


Overworked

by PandaWritesPoorly



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A Light Teen Rating, Akuma Attack, At least I think so? - Freeform, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Burnout - Freeform, Chat Noir has to be the the voice of reason, Fainting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I couldn't sleep and was struck with the sudden urge to hurt Ladybug, I had it G initially, I proofread this like once, I wrote this very early in the morning, I'm supposed to be prepping for exams, Identity Reveal, Just to be safe, Overworking, Please forgive any messiness, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Deprived Marinette Dupain-Cheng, So here we are, but better safe than sorry, good partners, one-sided reveal, overexhaustion, this is unprecedented
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22246357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaWritesPoorly/pseuds/PandaWritesPoorly
Summary: Ladybug assures Chat that she'll be fine when he has to leave for two weeks. Then everything falls apart.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 40
Kudos: 461





	Overworked

**Author's Note:**

> I have been up far too long for someone running on however many hours of sleep I got last night. I keep forgetting what I want to say. I'll think of something, and in the time it takes to hit a key everything is gone.

Things are not going well.

Marinette is behind on _all_ of her classes, and is _this_ close to failing a few of them. Of course, her website chose _now_ to gain traction, and she has a backlog of commissions like never before.

She hasn’t slept since Tuesday, and it’s Saturday. She’s running on coffee, energy drinks, sugar and basically anything caffeinated she can find. Not that it’s doing much besides keeping her conscious.

Sort of.

Once she’d started spacing out and hallucinating she’d done some research to make sure that caffeine pills didn’t have some crazy side effects she’d been previously unaware of.

Nope. She just needs to rest.

Thanks, Google, as if she didn’t already know that.

The final straw (or two straws, depending on how you count), is that Chat is gone. He’d told her that he’d be gone for two weeks. He didn’t have a choice. And had apologized a million times.

Ladybug had assured him that she’d manage. With plenty of temporary heroes, she’d have plenty of help to choose from if things reached that point. She’d told him not to worry, and to have fun on his trip.

He’d clearly still been worrying

For the first week things had been fine.

She’d had a few stressful moments, but things had been manageable. Soon enough though, Hawkmoth had caught on that she was working alone.

Without her partner.

From there things had begun to fall apart as he sent an endless barrage of akumas after her. She couldn’t even keep count due to how utterly _exhausted_ she was.

She can’t remember how many times she’s had to come up with a fake excuse to leave for an attack. Or how many times she’d thought that a battle would be her last. Too tired and weak to fight properly.

Some fights would probably have benefitted from help, but in her loopy, feeble-minded state sometimes she forgot that help was an option.

Or she hallucinated that Chat was with her, or another teammate.

Or she couldn’t find her way around the city for the life of her.

Or- what was she saying?

Anyways, all of this has brought her here.

To another evening akuma.

An angry, violent one at that. Fantastic. Just what she wanted.

She’d stopped paying attention to their names. Their stories. Their reasoning.

It’s all just too much for her to hold onto. Keeping it simple, she’s devolved to the formula of find object, break object.

Easier said than done.

Dodging another swipe from the akuma’s arm, she feels something slam into her back. It takes a moment for her to realize that it was the guy’s _other_ arm.

Right. People usually have two arms.

She’s sent flying into the pavement, but she doesn’t even wince at her skinned cheek. She’s too tired to properly process pain.

Shakily making her way to her feet, she scans the akuma for it’s object.

Goodness she really needs a nap.

Something slams into her chest, knocking her to the ground and along the road.

Now is _not_ the time to go into micro-sleep. During her brain’s momentary shut down, Hawkmoth’s latest victim had lobbed some debris at her. Direct hit. Ladybug is pretty sure at least one rib is broken.

All the more reason to finish this fight quickly so she can sleep.

After her physics homework. And she might as well work on that commision while she’s up…

She feels herself being lifted, and realizes she’d been distracted again. The akuma’s arm swings back, and suddenly she’s flying. This isn’t so bad-

Ladybug slams into a wall, and before she can even process the pain from _that,_ gravity kicks in, and she falls several meters to the ground, landing in a heap.

She hears groaning, eventually realizing it’s coming from _her._

Huh, her body _does_ kind of hurt.

She still needs to go after the akuma though.

In a moment. When her lungs don’t feel like pincushions.

The world is blurry, and her ears are ringing. She’s not quite sure what’s happening. Why is everything spinning? Is that from the akuma?

She’s pretty sure she’s hallucinating again. From the looks of it, the akuma is fighting someone else now. That’s nice. At least she can pretend her kitty is back already.

He’s mad. Why is fake Chat Noir so angry? The real Chat wouldn’t be so harsh on an akuma unless something was _really_ wrong.

Kwami, even her hallucinations can’t go right.

At least the pretend fight is short. She doesn’t like how upset her kitty is. She hates to see him sad. Regardless, pretend-Chat has beat the akuma (is that the real akuma or a hallucination too? If so, where’s the real one?) senseless. It looks unconscious.

Lucky. She wants to be unconscious.

Pretend-Chat finds the (maybe) pretend-akumatized object and approaches her.

Wow, her brain really outdid itself, this is the most convincing hallucination she’s had yet.

“Hi, pretend-kitty,” she rattles out, fluttering her fingers at him weakly.

He frowns - why is he so worried-looking?

“Oh, _Bug,”_ he murmurs, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“When you gonna’ leave?” This pretend-Chat seems so real, she wants to be prepared for him to go.

“Never. I’m not leaving again.” It seems like he’s looking over her, inspecting her. Goodness, even her hallucinations think she looks awful.

Not nearly as awful as she feels, but it does come close.

“Y’ gotta’. When real Chat come back, he w’dn’t wan’ me to be talkin’ to a fake still,” she whispers. She can’t manage anything louder at the moment. He’s sweet though.

“What?” His soft voice is the only thing that isn’t aggravating her headache, and she loves him so much.

“What?” Surely if she knows he’s a hallucination, then he does too.

“What do you mean I’m fake?” His voice is full of concern, and he rests a gentle hand against her face in hopes of comforting her some.

“Silly kitty, don’ you know? You a hall-oos-nation,” she stumbles out. It’s a big word.

He smiles a little, but his worry hasn’t ebbed, “Why is that?”

“‘Cause I’ve been doin’ that a lot now,” she states a-matter-of-factly.

“You have?! Ladybug-”

She weakly lifts a finger in an attempt to shush him. At least, she tries. It would seem she can’t quite feel that arm at the moment.

“Don’ worry. Google said it’sss norm’l.”

“That’s _not_ normal.”

“Yeah, is. Sleep… deb-er-ate-on.” Another big word.

He connects the dots, “...Ladybug. When was the last time you slept?”

“Tuesday.”

His eyes grow wide, and he grabs her hand tightly, before letting go abruptly, “Sorry, that probably hurt.” 

“Nah, can’t feel that arm,” she reassures him.

For some reason, he doesn’t look reassured.

“Right. Okay, let’s get this cleansed so you can go home and sleep,” he lifts the hand that holds whatever the object was.

“Can’ sleep yet. Gots’ homework, and som’ commissions.”

“Ladybug. Sleep should be your priority,” he reprimands, breaking the object and grabbing the butterfly before it can escape.

“‘ve got coffee.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he shoots back. Frowning in confusion, he hesitantly slides open her yo-yo and stuffs the akuma inside.

The yo-yo seems to accept this.

When the white butterfly goes by, she tries to shift herself to sit upright and cast her cure.

Only to slip further down as she squeezes her eyes shut against the bright lights that fill her vision. She can hear pretend-Chat’s voice from far away.

Breathing carefully, she manages to come back to herself despite the pain everywhere.

If she thought her partner looked worried before, then it was nothing compared to now.

“Don’t move,” he reminds her, “Just say the cure.”

She gulps, preparing herself, “M-miraculous Ladybug,” she breathes out, unable to muster up the ability to say it any louder.

Immediately she feels all her injuries heal. Her breathing becomes less labored. The magical beetles also seem to connect the dots in her mind that this is her _real_ partner.

Inhaling deeply, she sits up slightly, “Hi Chat. I’m glad y’re back.”

“I am too. I don’t want to think what would have happened if my flight had been delayed, or if I hadn’t known about the attack, or-” his voice cracks as he speaks.

“‘t’s fine.”

“It’s not! LB, you’re not okay! You haven’t slept since Tuesday, and I imagine you haven’t been eating enough.”

She pauses, “There were _so many_ akumas, Chaton. I couldn’t justify taking a bre-”

“I was keeping up on the news. He was trying to wear you out. He almost succeeded,” he interrupts, “That doesn’t change the fact that you need to take care of yourself.”

“I’m fine.” To emphasize her point, she makes her way to her feet, though his watchful eyes note the way she leans against the wall.

“Promise me you’ll sleep the _minute_ you get home.”

“I’ve got hom-”

“No. Ladybug, I’m serious. You’re burning yourself out, and I’m not a good partner if I just stand by and _watch.”_

Her earrings begin to beep, Tikki agreeing with him, she’s sure.

She loops her yo-yo up above her, pulling herself up and forward to get home, “Bye, Chat.”

 _“Ladybug,”_ he warns. He’s probably going to follow her. She’s fine.

As soon as the thought enters her mind, her body goes limp, and she blacks out momentarily.

She comes to, maybe a minute or two later.

She’s on the roof, and Chat is holding her in his arms. When he sees her eyes open, he lets out a sigh of relief, rubbing his cheek against her happily. Then he grows serious, “Ladybug. You’re in no condition to do… anything really.”  
She remains silent, thinking through everything. He lets her, holding her against his chest and purring. She’s not sure if it’s to relieve his stress, or calm her.

He’s warm, sturdy, and safe. She could fall asleep right here if she let herself.

She rests against him, making up her mind.

“Take me home, kitty,” she murmurs.

“What?!”

“You heard me. Spots off.”

Before the pink flash has even faded, she’s loosened her grip on consciousness. Marinette is faintly aware of her partner standing, lifting her with him, and taking off across the rooftops.

She barely registers the sound of his boots landing on her balcony, and the quiet creak of her trapdoor. The hushed conversation between hero and Kwami.

She’s only just cognizant of the soft mattress she’s placed on, and the blankets pulled snugly around her.

When her bleary eyes catch sight of him turning away to leave though, she takes action. Gently, she grabs his tail, her fingers hardly even having the energy to properly curl around the belt. He pauses nonetheless.

“Yes?” He whispers, evidently having assumed she was asleep.

“Stay?” Her voice is heavy with exhaustion and her eyes are unfocused.

“If you want me to,” he concedes. Turning back to her, he lies next to her.

She huffs softly, Fidgeting slightly to toss the blanket over him and snuggle closer. He moves past the momentary surprise to return the hug, purring loudly.

Marinette’s eyes finally slip fully closed, staying that way for sometime. The deep sleep she enters lasts well into the next day, even when Chat has to go. She remains asleep, resting soundly, when three friends stop by to check on her.

Nino and Alya are relieved that Marinette is _finally_ sleeping, while Adrien gazes at the sleeping girl and wonders how he didn’t notice sooner.

**Author's Note:**

> I might edit these notes later, when I'm less tired. I hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](https://pandawritespoorly.tumblr.com/)! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!


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